University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, was the last host of SWE's annual Region H conference which was held from March 10-12 in their beautiful campus. The theme for the conference this year was, "Engineering Through the Ages." Patti Poppe, President and CEO, CMS Energy Corporation and Consumers Energy Company, and Alicia Boler Davis, Executive Vice President, General Motors Global Manufacturing, were both the Keynote Speakers for this year's conference and left us truly inspired.

Region H Conference 2017 had a mixture of professional/collegiate development sessions, networking opportunities, and a career fair with employers from around the region. A group of our very own SWE-ECI Core Board members formed a panel to answer questions on what the day to day working life of an engineer is like, dos and don'ts in the workplace, how to maintain work/life balance, setting career goals, and any other questions the attendees had for one of the sessions. It was well attended, and the panel helped guide the future of the engineering workforce.​SWE-ECI was also awarded the following three awards and we are extremely proud of the accomplishments:- Continuous Improvement Award (added a new position, Special Event Coordinator, to attract those individuals who'd still like to be involved but do not have the bandwidth to commit as a core-board member)- Large Section Membership Retention Award- Large Section Membership Growth AwardGoing forward, WELocal is going to replace the region conferences and we welcome you to join SWE at any of the future WELocals. Click here for more information.

On Tuesday, February 21st, SWE ECI hosted a cross-company webinar viewing over the lunch hour featuring two, thought provoking TED Talks. It was a great success with over 45 attendees joining us from both the local companies (Rockwell Collins, General Mills, Proctor and Gamble Oral Care, DuPont and Quaker Foods & Snacks) who hosted and over the phone! SWE-ECI provided lunch at all the host sites during this event as well.

The first TED Talk we watched promoted the notion of the unexpected benefit of celebrating our failures. The head of X (formerly Google X), Astro Teller took us through the project cycle for their very out of the box experimental ideas like balloon-powered internet and wind turbines that sail through the air. To watch this TED Talk to find out X’s secret for success, click here.

After some discussion on the first TED Talk, we followed it up with another one which showcased and empowered mutlipotentialites- people who don’t have just ONE true calling. You are welcome to watch the webinar here.

Below is a picture of some conference room attendees at Rockwell and DuPont. Hope you can join us via phone or in person for the next one.